CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 18

As usual, there was a long line of people crowding the room to take the test.

Initially, for the test, all you needed to do was ask, fill out your information, and then take a test to assess your basic skills.

But over time, more and more people started choosing the adventurer profession, hoping to find fortune in one of their adventures.

With the increase in people, the cases of injuries also increased, and in worse cases, even deaths.

The adventurer guild cared little, as everyone is responsible for their own actions, but the city government didn't like it.

Under pressure from higher authorities, the guild had to intervene.

They put limitations to contain the number of people who wanted to enroll, as well as a registration fee not too high, but not too small either, to discourage people.

An silver coin might seem little, but since most of the people who wanted to become adventurers were common and often poor people, for them, 1 silver was like a gold coin.

Even the evaluation of physical abilities became stricter. Instructors were required to consider many factors to pass an examinee, factors such as hunting experience, combat, weapon handling skills, and so on.

Although this didn't stop the deaths, it greatly reduced their number.

A person could go hunting even without being enrolled in the guild, but they wouldn't earn much from it, so not many opted for this option, only the most desperate, who didn't have many other options, did.

***

Gerome, an adventurer of Rank F at its peak, had been in this profession for many years, and had seen all sorts of people taking the test, so he could tell at a glance whether a person was qualified or not.

At this moment, he was on the stage, waiting for the next candidate to come up.

The one before had been quite disappointing. He had a good build, but lacked skills, and had almost no combat experience.

Gerome disqualified him without a second thought.

Sending him out to hunt in these conditions would have gotten him killed, even by a simple non-evolved beast.

He hoped the next candidate would be a little better.

Reily, with confident steps, climbed the 3 steps and arrived on the small combat arena.

He had had a chance to see the battle of the person who went before him, and he had to admit it was quite pitiful.

It wasn't that he was arrogant or anything, but simply seeing that person make so many basic mistakes made him reassess the level of the examinees who came to take the test.

'I suppose he's what they say is all muscles and no brains' thinking that, he arrived a few meters from the examiner, and stopped.

"Pleasure, I'm Reily," he said, looking at the man in front of him.

The man emanated an atmosphere that only one who had lived enough battles could have.

Reily could get a basic idea of the man's rank in front of him, so he decided to be as cautious as possible.

Gerome, seeing the boy in front of him, was surprised for a moment, but then smiled.

'It seems like an interesting one has come forward'

Thinking happily that he had found someone interesting, he said:

"Gerome, nice to meet you. Today I'll be your examiner," then he pointed with a hand to the side, and continued.

"To avoid any accidents, it's not possible to use real weapons. If you want to use a weapon, you can choose these wooden ones," he said, showing a cabinet on the side of the arena.

Reily, at first, thought of fighting barehanded, as he was confident in his speed and strength, but he thought of something and changed his mind.

He went to the side of the arena and took a wooden dagger. 

Reily was somewhat familiar with daggers, so he decided to use that one.

Gerome didn't say anything and patiently waited for Reily to take the weapon.

Once done, Reily returned to his previous position and assumed a fighting stance.

Gerome felt a certain aura of blood from the boy in front of him, and this aura was acquired only by killing many beasts.

So he thought Reily had already had many fights risking his life, but seeing his posture now, he couldn't help but have a second thought.

'possible, that I've evaluated him wrong' he thought as he gave the signal to start the fight.

At that moment, just as he prepared to receive any attack from the boy, he stopped for a moment.

'where has he gon-' 

The boy in front of him, who a moment ago was there, suddenly appeared by his side.

'what ?!!' He didn't have time to continue his thought because his instinct had started to bombard him with danger alarms.

Without hesitation, he bent his body and ducked, avoiding the wooden dagger aimed at his head.

Without wasting time, he moved, putting some distance between him and the boy.

'what the hell is that speed, it seemed like that of a rank F, specialized in movement skills'

He looked suspiciously at the boy in front of him, who had taken a position, and then thought

'He's clearly a person who hasn't awakened yet, but then how can he be so fast? '

A series after the other of questions started bombarding his mind. Although he expected something good from Reily, he wouldn't have expected this.

Excitement began to fill his mind as he wondered what else the boy in front of him had in store for him.

This was the first time in a long time that Gerome felt this sensation. It had been a long time since he met someone like Reily, so now he was euphoric and couldn't wait to continue the fight.

The excitement for Reily's next moves made him forget that he was here to examine the candidate.

A minute had already passed since the start of the fight.

The time started as soon as the candidate stepped onto the arena, and the test would last a maximum of 5 minutes.

"Not bad kid. Come on, let me see what else you can do," he said with a smile as he began to take Reily more seriously.